Summer Rain
by vinkunwildflowerqueen
Summary: It's raining, it's pouring, Fiyero is bored. What do when it's raining and your friends are visiting? Go searching for secret passageways, naturally. Little bit of Fiyeraba. AU. Shiz-era. Musicalverse. Oneshot. There's also a competition to enter!


**Summer Rain**

 **By Vinkunwildflowerqueen**

 **DISCLAIMER:** _ **Wicked**_ **isn't mine and I'm lacking the time right now to make a witty disclaimer.**

 **AN. Surprise one shot! Mostly because I was hoping to start posting** _ **Long Time Coming**_ **today, but I'm only on chapter 15 and it's not even the half way mark yet.**

Fiyero was bored.

They all were, except Elphaba.

It had been raining all day, and was expected to rain for the next two days at least. And it wasn't merely a few showers here and there, this was torrential rain and furious winds that refused to relent.

Fiyero didn't think the weather should be allowed to be like this during summer. Mostly because it ruined his mental image of what summer should be; not to mention his plans, the majority of which involved being outside in warm and beautiful sunshine.

Fiyero had had many of these plans when he had invited his friends to Kiamo Ko for a few weeks of their summer vacation from Shiz. And now here they were, the five of them, sitting in a parlour around a roaring fireplace, the three girls wearing sweaters over their summer dresses. It didn't feel the remotest bit like summer.

They were all bored, save Elphaba, who was curled up in a corner reading a book on the Vinkus' history she had found in the castle's expansive library. Boq and Fiyero were tossing cards into the empty wastepaper basket, as Nessarose and Galinda leafed through old issues of _OzBeat_ magazine which had been lying around somewhere, Fiyero had no idea where.

"I'm so bored," Fiyero announced unnecessarily.

"Thank you for that, Fiyero," Elphaba replied without looking up from her book. "You could be doing something productive, you know."

"Who says I'm not being productive?" Fiyero argued, flicking the six of spade towards the basket and missing it miserably.

Elphaba snorted.

"What are you reading about, Elphaba?" Nessa asked tactfully, ever the peacekeeper.

"The royal residences," Elphaba answered.

Fiyero looked over at her. " _'The royal residences'_ as in like… _here?"_

"This is a royal residence, isn't it?"

"Why don't you just ask me?" Fiyero demanded, lowering the cards in his hands.

"Do you know everything about the castle?" Galinda asked in interest, tossing aside her magazine.

"Sure," Fiyero shrugged.

Elphaba snorted again. "You do not."

"I know when the castle was built, and why. I know how big it is and how many rooms it has. And I know stuff that won't be in that book," he nodded to the tome in Elphaba's hands. "I know the third window from the left in the ballroom is all original glass from when the castle was first built, except for the bottom right pane, because I broke it when I was twelve."

"I know the wallpaper in the dining room was put up four years ago and my parents argued over it for a month; because my mother wanted something historical to fit in with the history and the style of the architectural. And my father wanted something blue, because it's his favourite colour."

The others stared at him in disbelief, even Elphaba had finally looked up from her book to gape at him.

"Wow. You do know stuff," Boq said, sounding surprised.

Fiyero was a little hurt by that. "Well, I do live here," he pointed out.

He returned his gaze to Elphaba. "Test me. You know you want to."

Elphaba lifted an eyebrow ever so slightly, and then straightened up in her seat. "OK."

She flicked back a few page and searched for a paragraph and began to read.

"' _The oldest royal residence is Chorimall Irr, built in the 13_ _th_ _Century; although the royal family moved to Werillah Ev in 1884. The current primary residence, Kiamo Ko, was built three hundred years ago as a safe house for the royals during the Vinkun war with Ugabu, complete with many secret tunnels and passageways which could be used to get the royals to safety if needed.'"_

She looked up at him. "Is this true?"

"So, the rumours say," Fiyero shrugged.

"How long have you lived here? In this castle, specifically."

"We lived here for eight months when I was twelve while Werillah Ev was being renovated; and moved in permanently about three and a half years ago when Werillah Ev was damaged in a storm. It was supposed to be only for a few months, but my parents decided they couldn't be bothered moving again," he grinned slightly.

"You don't have any idea if there actually are secret passageways?"

Fiyero opened his mouth and then stalled. "I don't know," he said in surprise. "I mean, I knew Kiamo Ko was built as a safe place during the war… there were always stories about secret passageways, but I've never heard about where they actually are."

"I would have thought you'd be all over that as a kid. Isn't that the sort of things boys do as kids?" Elphaba asked, looking to Galinda and Nessa for confirmation.

"Why in Oz's name are you asking _us,_ Elphie?" Galinda asked reasonably.

"Well, we didn't stay here very much," Fiyero answered Elphaba thoughtfully. "Just those eight months, and I don't think I was aware of the history of the castle then. I mean, my Dad was always going on about stuff like that, but I didn't really listen."

"I'm shocked to hear that," Elphaba said dryly.

"Why did you ask about that, Fabala?" Nessa asked her sister.

The green girl shrugged. "It was interesting. I wanted more information, I thought Fiyero might know something."

"Sorry, I don't," Fiyero admitted.

Then he abandoned his cards and got to his feet. "Let's go find one."

Once again, he was met with four expressions of disbelief.

"Let's go… find a secret passageway?" Galinda asked sceptically.

"Why not?" Fiyero questioned. "It's raining, we're bored… it's the perfect rainy day activity!"

"I'm pretty sure a perfect rainy day activity is doing a puzzle," Boq countered.

"Or reading by a fire," Elphaba added.

"Or staying in bed all day," Nessa suggested.

"Makeovers and gossiping!" Galinda said excitedly.

Fiyero, Boq and Elphaba all hid grimaces at the blonde's answer.

"Ok, whatever. But have we got anything better to do?" Fiyero asked pointedly, and none of them had an answer.

"Where would you even start, though?" Elphaba finally asked. "The castle is ridiculously enormous- and I do mean that. You have like eighteen bathrooms on one floor alone."

Fiyero was thoughtful, even as he ignored her latter comment. "Well, where would _you_ put a secret passageway?"

They all had to think about that for a moment.

"What about behind a bookshelf?" Boq suggested. "You know, you pull out a book and it opens?"

Elphaba frowned. "But if the point of having a secret passageway is to use them to escape in a hurry, don't you want it to be easy to get to? Otherwise, it would be like ' _oh, the castle's under attack. Which book do I have to pull out to find the tunnel?_ '."

Nessa agreed with her sister. "I think you'd want to have it somewhere you can find it quickly and simply, wouldn't you?"

"But if it's simple, then anyone can find it, and it wouldn't be a secret passage," Boq argued.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking about putting up a sign 'Secret Passage Through This Wall'. I'm just saying-"

"Why don't we just go look in the library and then we can move on?" Galinda interjected. "You never know, maybe the rumours are just rumours and there _are_ no secret passages?"

Fiyero agreed and led the others out of the parlour and to the library. The library was a large, beautiful room that spread over two stories and was filled wall to wall with books.

"Where do we start?" Boq asked in a hushed voice as they stood in the doorway.

Fiyero shrugged. "Let's just fan out and start looking. Probably with books that don't get read much."

"Find me a book in here that you _have_ read and I'll be impressed," Elphaba retorted, and Fiyero glared at her.

They spread out and rather reluctantly (save for Fiyero) began to look for a secret passageway that may or may not exist. Elphaba and Galinda did have to point out to Boq that a secret passageway was unlikely to be connected to one of the bookshelves that was not connected to a wall, but other than that, it was an uneventful and unfruitful ten minutes.

"Are you looking for something in particular?" a deep voice asked them, and they turned to look at Fiyero's father who had emerged from amongst the shelves.

"A secret passageway apparently," Elphaba answered him dryly.

King Ibrahim's eyebrow rose slightly. "I see."

Fiyero looked to his father hopefully. "Any idea if there really are secret passageways? And where they might be?"

Ibrahim pondered the question thoughtfully. "Well, I've never found one myself, but I've heard the stories just as you have, Yero. I remember my grandfather once telling me about a trapdoor and tunnel he once found…"

"Where?" Fiyero asked eagerly.

"Oh, I'm not sure, son. He seemed to think it was up in a tower, I think, but having a tunnel in a tower never made much sense to me."

Elphaba had an idea. "Do you know if the blueprints to the castle are still around?" she asked the king. "It's better than wandering all over the castle and hoping to find something."

Ibrahim looked at her approvingly. "I see Fiyero wasn't exaggerating your intelligence, Miss Elphaba."

Elphaba flushed slightly, and Fiyero positively beamed at her.

"Is that a yes?" he asked his father hopefully. "We're _really_ bored," he added beseechingly when his father just looked at him.

"Clearly," Ibrahim replied, sounding amused. "I'll have a look for you."

He left the library and Fiyero turned to the others in satisfaction.

"See? Isn't this better than sitting around doing nothing?"

"I wasn't doing nothing," Elphaba retorted.

"I was _fine_ with doing nothing," Galinda added.

Fiyero rolled his eyes and looked to Nessa and Boq expectantly.

Boq looked rather alarmed at having to answer. " _Oh._ Um, well… I mean, I guess… it's something to do?" he said, almost tentatively.

"Yes," Nessa agreed.

Fiyero just stared at them for a moment. "You two are hopeless," he told them. "She's _your_ sister," he added to Elphaba.

It was twenty minutes later when Ibrahim returned with the castle blueprints he'd found. And then he left them to it, as Elphaba spread the blueprints out over a table and the five of them peered over them intently.

"Does anyone know how to read these?" Nessa asked.

Boq shook his head. "No. If it was machinery, sure. But not buildings."

Galinda wrinkled her nose. "This is more confusifying than my Sorcery textbook."

Elphaba let that comment slide.

"I can kind of read some of it. This is the library, right?" she asked Fiyero.

He nodded, following her finger. "Yeah, that's right."

"But how do we tell if there's secret passageways anywhere?" Galinda asked.

"I don't know… look, I guess?"

"That's brilliant, Yero," Elphaba said dryly and he grinned at her.

Fiyero and Elphaba began to study the blueprints carefully. The others tuned out soon- Galinda got bored, and Boq and Nessa weren't really sure what they were looking for and left it to Elphaba and Fiyero.

"Fiyero, what's this room here?" Elphaba asked him suddenly.

Fiyero craned his neck to see. "Um… that would be… the music room."

"And this next to it?"

"The conservatory."

"That is _not_ the conservatory," Elphaba argued.

"Fae, didn't we have this argument? I live here, I know where the conservatory is."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. " _That_ cannot be the conservatory. It's not big enough."

Fiyero frowned and pulled the blueprint closer to him to have a look. And then he saw what she was talking about. On the blueprint, instead of there being a single line between the two rooms there was two.

"But there's nothing between the music room and the conservatory," Fiyero said, mystified.

"Is there a closet? It doesn't look big enough to be anything but," Nessa asked him, having a look for herself.

Fiyero shook his head. "No, it's just wall."

"Well, shall we go look?" Boq suggested.

Fiyero led them to the music room, which was on the ground floor of Kiamo Ko.

"See?" he showed them when they got there. "Music room, conservatory. Nothing in between but wall. It's probably just a mistake on the blueprints."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow. "You do remember we're looking for a secret passageway, yes? And you do know how a secret passageway works?"

Fiyero looked at her. "Fine. Let's look."

Galinda and Nessa went into the music room to search the wall, whilst Boq and Fiyero went to search the conservatory. Elphaba slowly followed her sister and best friend into the music room, running her fingers over the wall that backed the conservatory and the panelling that covered the wall.

"This is absolutely pointless," she sighed, leaving the wall and going to sit in a chair.

"It's something to do, at least," Nessa said half-heartedly.

"I _was_ doing something."

"If we _do_ find a secret passageway, or room or something, what exactly are we hoping to find?" Galinda demanded.

Elphaba shrugged wearily.

"I give up," the blonde exclaimed, coming to sit with Elphaba.

The boys came in not long after, likewise, they had found nothing.

"Maybe it's just a rumour," Boq said. "Maybe it's just rumours, and the blueprints _are_ a mistake."

"Or maybe someone put it there to make people think it's true?" Nessa suggested. "I mean, the blueprints your father gave us _cannot_ be the original plans- they're not old enough," she said to Fiyero.

Fiyero sighed dejectedly. "It's possible," he admitted. "So… we're back to doing nothing?" he asked glumly.

"At least Elphaba can get back to her book," Boq smiled.

Elphaba said nothing.

"Elphie?" Galinda said, turning to her best friend, who was staring off into the distance with a frown. " _Helloooo,_ Elphie? Oz to Elphaba… anyone home?"

"Is something weird about that wall?" Elphaba asked suddenly.

Fiyero turned around to stare at the wall opposite her.

"What do you mean, Fae?"

She shook her head slightly, getting to her feet. "I don't know. There's one section that just looks… odd."

The others all stared at the wall.

"I don't see it," Boq said.

"Do you mean how outdated the wallpaper is?" Galinda asked.

Fiyero followed Elphaba to the wall as she stood there with her hands on her hips, staring at it intensely.

"Which bit, Fae?"

"This panel here," she pointed.

Fiyero began to prod every inch of the panel she was pointing at, from ceiling to baseboard. The others waited in silence, watching.

"Wait a sec," he said suddenly, from where he was kneeling on the floor.

He grunted slightly and began to jiggle the panel, his fingers digging into the baseboard. The others crowded around excitedly, and after a few tense moments, the panel slid up into the wall like a window. It created a dark space about half the size of the wall, and Fiyero turned to them in excitement.

" _See, I told you!"_

"How did it open?" Galinda demanded.

"There was a little depression under one of the mouldings," Fiyero explained. "I just clicked it and…"

Elphaba was peering into the darkness. "I can't make out anything," she complained. "Fiyero, is there a lantern somewhere?"

He nodded. "Yeah, one sec."

He hurried out of the room and returned with his parents in tow and a lantern.

"Fiyero, we're late for a meeting with the Health Minister," Queen Kasmira was saying, sounding faintly annoyed. "What is so important that-"

She cut herself off with a gasp as they entered the music room and saw the hole in the wall.

"What in Oz's name happened here?" Ibrahim asked in amazement.

Fiyero quickly explained the small space on the blueprints that hadn't made sense and how they'd found the panel.

"What's in there?" Kasmira asked tentatively.

"We don't know," Elphaba answered the queen. "It's too dark. I can't even tell if there's a floor."

"There has to be a floor," Ibrahim mused, moving forward to stare into the blackness.

Fiyero quickly lit the lantern and handed it to Elphaba. "Here, Fae."

She took it and shone it forward.

"It's a staircase!" she announced.

"It must go to the cellar," Kasmira suggested, but her husband frowned.

"I don't know. I've never noticed another staircase in the cellar, have you?"

"Well, it's the only thing that is below," she pointed out.

Fiyero rolled his eyes. "Mom, it's a _secret passageway._ It'll go somewhere more exciting than the _cellar."_

The queen smiled at her son in amusement. "Forgive me, Yero. I don't know what I was thinking. Ibrahim, we have to go to our meeting."

The king sighed. "Coming, dear."

He turned to Fiyero before leaving. "If you're going to go down the staircase be careful," he warned him. "We don't know what's down there and if it doesn't let out somewhere, the air might be dead. If you feel the _slightest_ bit out of breath, stay out of it. You may need to leave the panel open for a few days to let some air circulate."

Fiyero nodded. "OK, Dad."

Then the king grinned and winked at the young adults. "Find us something good down there, won't you?" he said and followed after his wife.

Fiyero turned to his friends. "We _are_ going down there, aren't we?"

Galinda crept to the opening and peered down the stairs. "You don't suppose your father is right about the air, do you, Yero?"

Fiyero shrugged. "I don't know. Look, we'll do down and take it easy. If the air isn't great, we'll come back up."

"I don't think I'm going anywhere," Nessa said, gesturing to her chair.

"We'll carry you down," Fiyero immediately suggested.

Boq frowned doubtfully. "I don't know. The stairs look pretty narrow. I'll stay up here with you, Nessa," he offered.

Galinda shook her head. "No, I'll stay. There's probably bugs and dirt, and who knows what else down there," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"Glin, if it's a sealed passage, I don't know how bugs could get in," Elphaba said reasonably.

"I'm still not risking it," the blonde said firmly.

Fiyero looked to Elphaba. "Fae, you game?"

She nodded resolutely. "Lead on," she gestured.

Fiyero made Boq go first and then he followed him, leaving Elphaba to bring up the rear. The passage was narrow, they had to walk single file and Boq held the lantern aloft. Fiyero was counting the stairs.

"We're past twenty, we must be going below the cellar. I swear there's not that many stairs."

"The air still feels ok, so this must let out somewhere," Boq said. "Don't you reckon?"

Fiyero nodded. "Yeah, it doesn't feel stale at all. You ok, Fae?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Uh-huh," came the reply after a moment and Fiyero stopped in his tracks.

"Fae? Boq, stop a sec."

Boq turned with the lantern, allowing them to see Elphaba's face better.

"Elphaba, are you alright?" the Munchkin asked her in concern. "You can breathe, right?"

"Not so much at the moment," she said hoarsely.

Fiyero frowned. "Fae, are you claustrophobic?" he asked carefully.

Elphaba hesitated. "I… maybe. A little."

Fiyero retreated a step closer to her. "Come on, we'll turn around and go back," he said gently.

Elphaba shook her head. "No," she protested. "I want to know what's down there. I'll be fine."

"You don't look fine," Fiyero said.

"I'm fine," Elphaba insisted. "Let's go."

She took another step, and Fiyero stopped her gently. She was trembling and Fiyero carefully eased her down to sit on the ground.

"I want to keep going," Elphaba said quietly.

Fiyero hesitated, glancing at Boq.

"Why don't I go see if we're close to the bottom?" Boq suggested. "Fiyero can stay here with you."

"That's a good idea," Fiyero agreed. "Just keep an eye the air, right?"

Boq nodded and disappeared down the stairs, the glow of the lantern slowly fading with him.

Fiyero sat down on the step below Elphaba, holding her hands firmly.

"You ok?" he asked her.

Elphaba said nothing for a long moment. "The darkness makes it worse. More suffocating," she whispered.

"Just take deep breaths," Fiyero advised her, feeling rather useless.

Elphaba obeyed, her grip tightening on his hands.

"Can I do something to help?"

"Distract me?"

Fiyero nodded in the darkness, although she couldn't see him. He rubbed his thumb gently on the back of her hand, thinking. He could feel her trembling as she breathed shallowly, and he slowly grazed his fingers up her arm and across her neck. He slowly cupped her cheek in his hand, spreading his thumb to lightly graze her lips. Then he leaned in through the darkness and kissed her.

Elphaba startled slightly in shock, returning the kiss before she really knew what she was doing. It only lasted a moment before he pulled away, but she could still feel his breath on her face.

"What-?"

"You asked for a distraction," Fiyero explained.

Elphaba's heart sank. "Oh."

The darkness was shattered as light began to appear again and then they heard footsteps and Boq's breaths as he climbed the stairs.

"There's a tunnel," he announced to them. "I didn't go down it, but the air still feels ok. I think there's even a bit of a breeze, so it must lead to outside somewhere."

"Great, let's go," Elphaba said swiftly, getting to her feet.

They made their way down the stairs in silence. When they reached the tunnel, they found it was wide enough that they no longer had to walk single file, although only two people could comfortably stand side by side.

"I can smell rain," Elphaba said suddenly. "Boq's right, the tunnel must lead to the outside."

"Are you ok?" Fiyero asked her cautiously.

"I'm fine," she replied curtly. "Shall we?"

She and Boq marched off into the tunnel, leaving Fiyero to follow slowly. The tunnel stretched on for perhaps five hundred yards, and then ended into a room about 150 square feet.

"I can smell the rain too," Fiyero said. "So there must be a door or a window…"

He moved into the room to try and find something.

"Ow."

"What?" Boq asked.

"I stubbed my toe on… something," Fiyero muttered.

Feeling less pinned in now, Elphaba took the lantern from Boq and held it up.

"It's a trunk. And there's another one," she pointed. "I wonder how old they are…"

There was a banging noise and Elphaba and Boq both turned to see a shadow drenched Fiyero shaking something.

"There's a boarded up window here, I think. But I'm gonna need tools or something to get it open."

He stepped back, sighed and turned around. "Alright. I'll leave the light here with you guys and I'll run up and get some tools. I'll bring back some more lights and try and coax Glin and Nessa down."

"Nessa's chair-" Elphaba began but he cut her off.

"I know. I'll work something out."

"Will you be alright going back up in the dark?" Boq asked him.

"Sure."

As she and Boq waited, Elphaba seated herself on the trunk under the window Fiyero had stubbed his toe on.

She could smell rain and feel a slight breeze, which made her feel better.

When Fiyero returned forty minutes later, he had tools and Galinda with him, who carried another lantern.

"See, I _told_ you," he was saying. "No bugs."

"We'll see, Tiggular," Galinda said darkly.

"Where's Nessa?" Elphaba asked immediately.

"Upstairs. She didn't want to come down. She said she's fine," Fiyero promised her.

He went to work removing the boards on the window and as he removed them, the small room was filled with light. Fiyero then opened the window with difficulty, which looked out onto the grounds. They were so low in the ground, they were at eye level with the grass. If anyone was walking past, all they'd see would be people's feet.

"How has no one noticed this from the outside?" Boq asked the reasonable question.

"I checked that, it's why it took so long. It's stopped raining, by the way. That wall?" he said, pointing. "The cellar's on the other side. From the outside, you'd think it was just another window."

"Aren't we lower than the cellar?" Elphaba frowned.

"Yeah. I guess the way the grounds slope, you can't tell," Fiyero shrugged. "I don't know."

Galinda was looking around the room cautiously, checking for any sign of bugs.

"What's in the trunks?" she asked in interest.

"We haven't checked yet," Boq answered.

Much to Galinda's utter delight, the trunks were full of clothes.

"That makes sense," Elphaba mused.

"How?" Fiyero said.

"That window is _just_ big enough to fit this trunk through. And you could climb through that window without too much trouble- and like you said Fiyero, it's not that noticeable from the outside. If this passage was to help the royals escape if needed, it makes sense they'd store some luggage here to help with a quick getaway."

"That does make sense," Galinda agreed. "These clothes are so old."

"Outdated?" Elphaba guessed.

"Vintage," Galinda corrected her. "They're so outdated they're fashionable."

Elphaba joined her friend by the trunks. " _Why_ does it seem to be mostly evening wear?" she demanded of Fiyero.

He shrugged. "Royalty?" was his only answer and Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"It was probably my grandparents who stored this stuff here, I guess. It Galinda's right about the age of the clothes."

"It's _fashion._ I'm right," Galinda said confidently.

"Let's carry this stuff upstairs and show my parents and Nessa," Fiyero suggested to Boq.

They got the trunks upstairs with only some difficulty. They told Nessa and Fiyero's parents about the room, and Ibrahim and Kasmira had to go see it for themselves. Kasmira was more interested in the clothes than the room, and she agreed with Galinda about the age.

"We should do something with these."

"Like what?" Galinda asked the queen in interest.

"Well… air them out, do them up?"

Galinda's eyes lit up. "You could have a ball? It's all formalwear."

Kasmira smiled at her. "That's a lovely idea, Galinda. Why don't we have it before you all go home?"

Galinda turned to Elphaba and Nessa. "Isn't this exciting?"

Elphaba blinked. "Thrillifying."

Her sarcasm was lost on Galinda.

The topic of conversation immediately turned to the party. Elphaba wished she had her book.

"Hey, Fae? Can we talk for a sec?" Fiyero said quietly, appearing at her shoulder.

Elphaba regarded him for a moment. "Sure."

They left the room and Fiyero led her to the parlour they had been in that morning.

"What's up?" she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I wanted to explain about that kiss," Fiyero began.

Elphaba shook her head. "No need. Like you said, you were distracting me. Which is what I asked you to do."

Fiyero stepped forward. "No, Fae, it's not like that. I mean, yes you asked me to distract you; and it was kinda the first thing I thought of," he admitted. "But it's not just that. I- I _wanted_ to kiss you."

Elphaba gave him a strange look.

"You did?" she asked in a small voice. "Why?"

Fiyero didn't know how to answer that.

"Because I like you. You're beautiful, and smart, and I wanted to kiss you. I have for a while now," he admitted.

Elphaba just stared at him.

"What happens now?"

Fiyero cleared his throat slightly. "Well… apparently there's a ball coming up. You could be my date?"

Elphaba pondered that carefully. "Ok," she agreed hesitantly.

Fiyero grinned. "Ok," he agreed, stepping close to her.

Elphaba looked nervous as they locked gazes. They were so close, Elphaba could have rested her head on his chest if she wanted.

Abruptly, Galinda burst into the parlour, making them both jump and Elphaba took a giant step back from Fiyero. " _There_ you two are! Elphie, you have to come try on the dresses so we can find you one for the ball. There's _so_ many pretty ones! And then of course there's shoes, and I'll want to start practicing era-appropriate hairstyles on you tonight. The party's only two weeks away, so we're short on time. Come _on,_ hurry up."

She left the room as quickly as she'd come.

Elphaba sighed and reluctantly got to her feet before turning to Fiyero.

"Yero, the next time you're bored, pick up a book or take a nap. Not something that's going to get me roped into Galinda's madness of party planning and evening wear, ok?"

Fiyero grinned. "I'll try," he promised. "But I can't apologise really. I got to kiss you _and_ we found a secret passageway. That's a good day in my books."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "It's supposed to rain for the next week," she informed him.

Fiyero's face fell. "Dammit."

He'd have to come up with lots more rainy day activities for them to do.

 **The End**

 **AN. For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter or Tumblr: Today, October 5 2015, is 5 years exactly since my first** _ **Wicked**_ **fanfiction 'Ever Ever After' was posted.**

 **To festivate, I'm running a little competition.**

 **THE COMP: In 100 words or less, answer the following question: "What is your favourite Vinkunwildflowerqueen fanfiction and why?" Send in your answer to me as a PM, or Tumblr message or Twitter.**

 **PRIZES:**

 **1** **st** **\- a notebook with handwritten original first drafts of sections of** _ **Ghost of Kiamo Ko, The Right Thing To Do**_ **and** _ **The Most Convenient Definitions**_ **that I will send to the winner.**

 **2** **nd** **\- create a character (either an Ozian version of you or an OC of your creation) to be featured in a future fic.**

 **3** **rd** **\- an exclusive sneak peek of my next fic,** _ **Long Time Coming.**_

 **DETAILS: The competition closes Oct 30 (Wicked Day) and will be judged by a neutral party (a friend of mine who doesn't read my FF).**

 **I've already had 2 entries! The poster for the comp can also be seen on Twitter, my blog and Tumblr. Good luck!**


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